In 2007, GVTC Communications set out on an ambitious five-year plan to replace its copper phone lines in existing neighborhoods and to pump fiber optics directly into 16,500 homes on the far North Side of San Antonio and the Hill Country.

The Smithson Valley-based cable and phone firm now says it will expand the scope of its $35 million fiber-optics project for an additional year so that the network can touch 1,000 additional homes not accounted for in the original plans.

When the build-out is completed sometime in 2013, GVTC expects to be able to offer its full bundle of services - phone, cable, Internet and security services - to more than 80 percent of its customers. Since 2004, it's been standard for GVTC to install fiber-optic lines in new neighborhoods.

The company, a rural phone cooperative that still derives most of its revenue from landlines, also plans to launch products that will run on the all-fiber network as a way to generate more profit.

"We're preparing for the future," said George O'Neal, GVTC's vice president of network services. "The fiber is capable of providing all four of our major products and just about anything we can think of into the future."

The investment in an all-fiber-optics system is commonly referred to as "future-proofing" by industry insiders because of the limitless potential that the ultra-fast broadband network provides. Unlike the hybrid fiber-copper network used by AT&T and Time Warner Cable, a direct fiber-optics connection to the home is "capable of delivering theoretically unlimited bandwith, whereas every other physical connection, whether it's copper or wireless, has limitations," said Le Keough, a Frost Bank telecom analyst.

And that's why GVTC views the project, the most capital intensive in the company's recent history, as vital to its long-term success.

"They're going to have the best network, period," Keough said. "This seems like it should also give them some longevity, especially if they can limit their competition."

But Keough says GVTC's biggest issue moving forward is whether the company can deliver content and products comparable to its competitors.

"That's where the next war is brewing," he said. "They have to deliver what the customer wants."

Time Warner Cable, GVTC's main competition in the area, plans to introduce a high-speed internet enhancement known as DOCSIS 3.0 to compete with speeds offered by an all-fiber network. But a rollout date for the San Antonio market has not been set, said Time Warner Cable spokesman Jon Gary Herrera.

So far, the city's dominant cable and Internet provider has no plans to revamp its network with 100 percent fiber in San Antonio and says there is no "true differentiator" between GVTC's network and its current hybrid network.

"In the fiber tests we've done, it never really seemed to exceed or outdo any of the coaxial solutions that we have," Herrera said, touting Time Warner Cable's line of advanced product offerings. "What fiber-to-the-home has become more than anything is a marketing scheme."

Customers in existing neighborhoods where GVTC is replacing copper lines with fiber optics won't be obligated to tap into the new network. Rates mostly will remain unchanged for cable, phone and security services if switched to fiber optic. Internet rates, however, will increase if switched. Currently, GVTC's DSL connections range from $24.95 a month to $44.94 a month, but fiber-based Internet rates start at about $59.95 a month.

So far, GVTC says it's completed about a third of the build-out. Since 2007, more than 5,300 homes have gained access to the fiber network - about 4,000 of which were this year, GVTC's O'Neal said. But next year is expected to be the company's busiest as it anticipates wiring 4,500 homes to the fiber network. Almost half - 2,100 - will come from two subdivisions on the far North Side.

"We're a very aggressive company," said CEO Ritchie Sorrells. "This is what's going to start separating us from our competitors:"